96 Galoppini
4 Genoese, Pisans, and Ecclesiastical Entities
In Sardinia, the activity carried out by the continental merchants, as well as
the economic-political influence of the important families of Genoa (Doria)
and Pisa (Visconti, Donoratico), grew together with the family of Marquis
Malaspina, from Massa.27 Some were able to rise to the thrones of various ju-
dicial kingdoms, thanks to shrewd marriage policies reinforced by adequate
economic and military strength. The influence exercised by the ecclesiasti-
cal entities of the two cities—l’Opera di San Lorenzo of Genoa and l’Opera di
Santa Maria of Pisa, as well as the Hospital di San Leonardo of Stagno and the
Hospital of the Misericordia, both Pisan—also grew.28
As a result of donations and concessions of land, sometimes made by the
same giudici, various orders of Benedictine monks also settled on the island.
The monks contributed to the integration of Western Christianity into the
rites, popular religion, and Sardinian culture, together with the progressive
abandonment of their own traditions in the Greek Church. As we can read
in the remaining documents (acts of land, servant, and animal donations),
monastic activities also turned towards the construction of buildings and
churches. Later, the monasteries of the Camaldolese, Cassinese, Cistercian,
Vallumbrosan, and the Vittorini Orders sprung up in Sardinia.29 More specifi-
cally, the works carried out by Benedictine monasticism, following the inspired
rule of prayer together with hard work (ora et labora), were directed towards
introducing different cultivation methods, irrigation, and livestock breeding.
There were many clashes between the monks and the local clergy (the bish-
ops), but also with the Genoese and the Pisans, who were protected by their
own ecclesiastical groups present on the island. One event occurred in the giu-
dicato of Cagliari, where the monks of San Vittore di Marsiglia had developed
the production of a salt mine. Salt came into great demand throughout the
western Mediterranean. Despite the protection and intercession of various
popes, the Pisans took control of the salt mines and basins of Cagliari from the
27 John Day, “La Sardegna sotto la dominazione pisano-genovese,” in La Sardegna medio-
evale e moderna, ed. John Day, Bruno Anatra, and Lucetta Scaraffia (Turin, 1984), pp. 3–189;
Alessandro Soddu, ed., I Malaspina e la Sardegna (Cagliari, 2005).
28 Rosalind Brown, “L’Opera di S. Maria di Pisa e la Sardegna nel primo Trecento,” Bollettino
Storico Pisano 57 (1988), pp. 160–209.
29 Alberto Boscolo, L’abbazia di San Vittore, Pisa e la Sardegna (Padua, 1958); Ginevra
Zanetti, I Vallombrosani in Sardegna (Sassari, 1968); Ginevra Zanetti, I Camaldolesi in
Sardegna (Cagliari, 1974); Giuseppe Spiga, ed., I Cistercensi in Sardegna. Aspetti e problemi
di un Ordine monastico benedettino nella Sardegna medioevale. Silanus 14–15 novembre 1987
(Nuoro, 1990).